Pipeline control centers have played vitally important roles for many decades, closely watching the operating conditions of pipeline systems of all shapes and sizes to ensure crude oil, natural gas, refined products, and chemicals are moving efficiently and safely to their final destinations at storage installations, refineries, processing plants, petrochemical facilities, and power-generation stations.

A pipeline control center never sleeps. Unseen and often from remote locations, control center operators steadfastly protect the public and the environment from harm by monitoring pipeline operating parameters detecting abnormal operating conditions, controlling key system equipment and components, and initiating shutdown procedures when emergencies arise. And this is an around the clock job, 365 days a year.

Pipeline control centers are as varied as the pipeline systems over which they watch. A control center owned and operated by a major interstate gas pipeline company to monitor multiple pipeline systems and thousands of miles of pipe is far different than a control center set up to monitor an oil gathering pipeline system in West Texas. Equipment and instrumentation also can vary considerably from one control center to the next, depending upon the number of lines being watched, the lengths of the systems, the pipes’ diameters, the nature of system throughput, and operating flow rates and pressures.

For most of the 20th Century, only the wealthiest companies were able to afford the high costs of sophisticated Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology, computer power, advanced communications equipment, and well-trained staff required to maintain a state-of-the-art pipeline control center. But in the past decade, exponential advances in computing power and communications technologies have brought down the cost of equipping a full-service pipeline control center and installing the requisite communications equipment to connect it with the field. Today, more pipeline companies than ever can seriously aspire to create a company control center with monitoring and controlling capabilities that far surpass the most sophisticated control centers of just a decade ago.

Why Not Out-source?
Of the possibility posed above, I have just one question: Why would a pipeline company go to the trouble of creating its own control center—spending tens of millions of dollars on the best available equipment and millions more to install it, and then go find, recruit, train, and motivate a staff of control center operators—when it can outsource all of its operations monitoring and control responsibilities to a state-of-the-art, full-service control center staffed by a well-trained team of dedicated operators.

The extent to which pipeline control center technology has improved in the past decade is impressive. The early control centers were equipped with a large panels displaying a series of dials and gauges showing important pipeline operating parameters and rows of push-button controls and big rubber knobs that lit up whenever something needed an operator’s immediate attention. It was very much a hands-on operation with operators controlling the operating conditions of the pipelines by pushing several buttons in prescribed sequences at specified times. Employees in such a control center were classified as “working operators” because they didn’t just operate the board, they actually left the control center to open or close valves, gather samples of products for analysis, and perform maintenance.

State-of-the-art, computerized, pipeline control centers today are equipped with visual schematics, displayed on large digital screens that provide an operator with instantaneous feedback on the status of key operating conditions and individual pieces of equipment. The computer power of modern control centers enable operators to track more data streams than ever before, and advances in field instrumentation, remote terminal unit field data collection, communications technology, and SCADA have transformed control centers into centralized operations management bases that not only are capable of initiating and coordinating responses to abnormal or emergency situations, but also serve as a centralized base of operations for ongoing maintenance and other field activities occurring on a pipeline system.

Dedicated Team of Operators
One aspect of pipeline control centers that has not improved appreciably in recent years is the dedication and commitment of the individuals who staff the facilities. In fact, experience teaches that in many cases the expertise, preparedness, and conscientiousness of a control center operator is the single-most important factor when it comes to maintaining efficient pipeline operations and protecting the integrity of a pipeline system.

One of the first things learned about running a pipeline control center is the crucial importance of ensuring that every operator on every shift has been trained to deal with all abnormal and crisis situations that might occur on his or her watch. A control center operator should never be put in a position in which he or she is required to respond to an emergency situation or perform a series of procedures that he or she hasn’t practiced many times before.

Control center operators should train regularly on every piece of equipment they are required to operate. They should become fully aware of the operations-critical data the control center monitors and controls on every pipeline. And they must be so familiar with emergency-response procedures that when a worst-case scenario occurs, they respond as if it is a normal, everyday event. Operators should know that they’ll always be on call 24-7; that they’ll be required to participate in extra training to master control-center equipment, operating procedures, and emergency response and reporting requirements; and that they’ll be expected to participate in team-building exercises, crisis drills, and emergency scenario training frequently with little or no warning.

Every individual who works in a control center must recognize the importance of the role the facility plays in helping pipeline system operators achieve their business objectives and ensuring the safety of the public and the environment are protected.

Beyond the Control Center
Updating an existing control center and/or creating a new one can be extremely difficult if a pipeline company hasn’t stayed current with all of the new computer software available and recently developed SCADA and communications technological capabilities. In fact, staying abreast of the latest control center technology should be a part of any pipeline operation and maintenance’s (O&M) business model.

To better serve our clients, we have worked diligently to develop high levels of expertise in control center organization, instrumentation, operation, and management. We’ve used such expertise to design and set up control centers for our customers and to help train their control centers’ staffs. We advise them about display set ups, control center operations, data monitoring while performing specific tasks, as well as recruiting operators for their control centers.

EMS brings the same commitment to developing industry-leading expertise to every phase of pipeline O&M. We have anticipated our customers’ needs and have created an organizational plan to provide such services as operating a customer’s entire pipeline system -- if that’s what is required.